Green light for the Graphene Flagship after successful first phase

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The Graphene Flagship has achieved many significant and promising results and managed to engage well not only within academia but also with the industry. These are some of the conclusions of the European Commission after reviewing the ramp-up phase of its two Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagships, the Graphene Flagship and the Human Brain Project. Both where given green light and additional funding to continue their groundbreaking work.

From the European Commission blogpost (published 12 September 2016):"The Graphene Flagship has achieved many significant results in areas such as optoelectronics, photovoltaics and nanocomposites showing the remarkable versatility of this material, which can also be used in new fields, such as biomedical applications. The review confirmed that the Flagship managed to engage with industry by attracting them as partners or associated members, and demonstrated a first concrete set of technological opportunities offered in this area through the many patent applications (47), prototypes (36), and industry/academia collaborations (165). The Flagship has started research on silicon wafer-scale integration, which will be essential for low cost and mass production of electronics applications. This will be a deciding factor for a range of very promising Graphene applications. During the current phase, it was important for the Flagship researchers to explore a wide set of technological opportunities not to miss out on any area which could bring breakthroughs relevant for Europe's industry. Now, the Flagship has to face the challenge of narrowing down its focus to the most promising industrial and application areas. The European Commission welcomes the work starting on Graphene's Technology and Innovation roadmap, which will support this choice, complementing the earlier Graphene Science and Technology Roadmap.​"